When the levy was first announced in last year’s budget, children in care and people on methadone programmes were excluded. A spokesman for the Patients Associations has called for others to be exempted (Examiner) >>>
Novus Medica
Medical news service from Penhire
Monthly Archives: September 2010
Programme not about closing rural hospitals, insists reconfiguration chief
HSE national director of reconfiguration, Brian Gilroy, said the process was about improving quality of care, access to care and patient throughput. Dr Ilona Duffy, who was one of a number of people who protested at the downgrading of Monaghan…
Stem cell doctor struck off register
Dutch-trained 56-year-old Dr Robert Trossel was told by the General Medicine Committee (GMC) that “the panel cannot rely upon you to make the welfare of your patients your first concern or be confident that the safety of patients you treat…
Public patients suffer once again
[Letter in Indo] >>> In your report (Irish Independent, September 28) on the proposals to cut health services in the HSE-West region, director of operations John Hennessy finally admitted that the cutbacks will indeed impact on services. In an effort…
First year of free cervical screening programme saw 285,000 women
CervicalCheck’s aim after some time is not to detect cervical cancer but to prevent it, Tony O’Brien, director of the National Cancer Screening Service, said yesterday. Dr Gráinne Flannelly, clinical director of colposcopy with the programme, outlined improvements since then.…
Study finds ADHD is a ‘genetic condition’
A STUDY published in the Lancet today has found direct evidence that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a genetic condition. The disorder, which makes children restless, impulsive and easy to distract, has often been attributed to boldness, bad parenting or a high…
GlaxoSmithKline Medical Media Awards
IRISH EXAMINER journalist Fiachra O Cionnaith was awarded top honours as winner of the Consumer Print category for his work on the newspaper’s 20-page suicide supplement which was published last October. General manager at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ireland Sally Storey said…
Posted in Patients
Proposed €40m hospital redevelopment ‘will not go ahead’
THE Health Service Executive (HSE) will not be proceeding with its planned €40 million redevelopment of Ennis General Hospital, it emerged yesterday. (Examiner) >>>
Cancer test can rule out need for chemotherapy
Up to 200 women a year with breast cancer may be able to avoid chemotherapy treatment if a new diagnostic test becomes more widely available, it was claimed yesterday. The Oncotype DX genomic test, which costs about €3,000, is not…
‘Careless’ HSE blamed for bed delay
CARELESSNESS IN the HSE caused an eight-year delay in processing an elderly woman’s application for a public long-term care bed, Ombudsman and Information Commissioner Emily O’Reilly has found. An investigation published yesterday by Ms O’Reilly found the woman’s son, who…
Public healthcare deeply frustrating, says top cardiologist
Dr John Barton, consultant cardiologist at Portiuncula hospital in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, said the cost difficulties facing the health system would not be resolved until there was more integration between primary care and hospital care. He was speaking at the…
HSE West signal cuts of €50m by end of year
There is “no question” of carrying an overrun into next year when there could be further budget reductions of €600 million to €700 million nationally, HSE West regional director of operations John Hennessy warned. “It would be incorrect for me…
Patients to be frozen into state of suspended animation for surgery
Surgeons are pioneering a method of inducing extreme hypothermia in trauma patients so that their bodies shut down entirely during major surgery, giving doctors more time to perform operations. This will involve connecting up a pump to the major blood…
‘Achievements’ ring hollow on hospital wards
Maurice Nelligan: “The NTPF was the “finger in the dyke” response to system failure and it would be niggardly to deny that many patients benefited from its existence. Now we need a different integrated approach where all hospitals, large and…
Relying on gut instinct to read the symptoms
As the Health Information and Quality Authority and others rightly address patient safety issues – as in a document published last week, National Standards for Better, Safer Healthcare – referral guidance and criteria will become the norm. But if this guidance…
Getting under their skin
“Up to 15 per cent of Irish children suffer from eczema [also known as atopic dermatitis] and 90 per cent of these will have it by the age of five,” says Prof Alan Irvine of the dermatology clinic in Our…
Joint support
JUVENILE ARTHRITIS affects one in 1,000 people between the ages of three and 16 in Ireland. It is an illness more often associated with the elderly, but it is now as common as in children as childhood diabetes. Despite this,…
‘Faulty gene’ find offers new hope for migraine sufferers
Dr Zameel Cader, from the Medical Research Council’s Functional Genomics Unit at the University of Oxford, said: “We have now made a major step forward in our understanding of why people suffer with migraine and how, in certain cases, your…
Centre for chronic conditions opens
[From Times>] A NEW centre to treat a number of chronic conditions called primary immunodeficiencies (PID) will be opened today by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Barry Andrews. The Jeffrey Modell Research and Diagnostic Centre for Primary Immunodeficiencies…
Prescription changes will pose ‘barrier’ for vulnerable
THE IRISH Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) has said new rules on how drugs are prescribed for psychiatric patients in the Dublin area will pose “a barrier for vulnerable patients”. Medical card patients attending psychiatric outpatient clinics in the old eastern health…
Forum set up for patient feedback
A patient forum at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital has been set up, designed to enable patients along with staff and other members of the public to have their say in the quality of services being provided at the hospital. Stephen…
Casualty doctor shortage ‘puts patient safety at risk’
Dr Binchy said the shortage of senior consultants — with only 58 spread throughout 31 hospitals — had left emergency departments overly dependent on junior doctors, particularly those in the lower grades. The worst-hit hospital is Our Lady of Lourdes…
Support for plan to cut hospital wait
Mr James Binchy, emergency consultant at University College Hospital Galway, welcomed the move and said the planned “Acute Medicine Programme” was “all good news – if it happens”. Letterkenny-based emergency consultant Dr Gerry Lane also welcomed the plan, but he…
Obesity leading to joint replacements in young
HIP AND knee replacements are required in more and more young people due to obesity, a conference on nutrition has heard. The comments were made by Dr Bernadette Carr, medical director of VHI, at the conference on obesity organised by…
UCD team discovers genetic link to blood clots
“Essentially, we have found the genetic traits that promote clot formation in people who have a history of heart disease,” said biochemist Dr Patricia Maguire, who jointly led the UCD team’s work alongside professor of molecular medicine and vice-president for…
When breathing is a struggle
In COPD, lung tissue gets progressively damaged and restructured, explains Dr Rory O’Donnell, a consultant respiratory physician at St James’s Hospital in Dublin. vaccinations can help reduce infections that could cause more damage, and rehabilitation can improve exercise tolerance and…
Bill gives more power to coroners
“We are anxiously awaiting new legislation,” said Dublin city coroner Dr Brian Farrell. Under the European Convention on Human Rights incorporated into Irish law in 2003 the State has an obligation to hold a public inquiry where a death occurs…
TCD scientists gain insight into brain
Dr Kevin Mitchell: “If genes that specify how nerves connect up to each other are mutated you can end up with conditions like schizophrenia, autism or epilepsy. “So by trying to understand the normal processes , and what happens when…
Focusing on life and the first 1,000 days
Compelling evidence shows that sustained under-nutrition during these critical 1,000 days leads to physical and mental stunting, which compromises the future of individuals, economies and nations. Ireland and the US agreed to host this forum because improving maternal and child…
